Yikes, I'm really bad at this whole blog thing! I've been running (a little), but with the freezing temperatures (high of 16?? what??) and two jobs where I spend all my time on my feet...I've been slacking a little. I'm currently at the end of my nursing program, which means that I spend three weeks following a nurse and working her schedule. Mine happens to work on the weekends (plus a couple shifts during the week), so I spend 7a-7p every Saturday and Sunday at the hospital. Those days are so long! I don't understand how people do three 12 hour shifts in a row because I am exhausted after the two shifts. I'm still working at my part time job (server at a breakfast/lunch restaurant), so I'm keeping busy without all the studying.

That being said, only three more 12 hour shifts at the hospital, and I'm DONE with nursing school! This has been a long, long year, and I'm excited for it to come to a close. The job search isn't going so well. Most people tell me I'll get a job fairly easily because of the "nursing shortage," but let me be the first to tell you that the nursing shortage isn't what people think it is! I'm looking for a job in a big city that is saturated with nurses, and therefore looking to hire people with experience (because they can be picky about who they hire). New grad nurses go through anywhere from a six to twelve (or more!) week orientation, which is not cost-effective for hospitals, so of course they would take someone with experience over a new grad. That doesn't work so well for me! Luckily I can't really start working until March-ish (thanks to the need to have a license to practice, of course), so I still have time to find a job.

Christmas is coming up so soon! I've barely started shopping, which could spell trouble since I wanted to do a lot of it online...shipping might be troublesome at this point! One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the cookies...every year my friends all get together and we decorate sugar cookies, and I'm really excited to continue the tradition this year. Some people are more creative than others, which makes for a good time. I can't wait to see the creations that we have this year!

Alright, time to browse the internet for some Christmas shopping...hopefully I find some good presents!
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Winter is here!

Yikes, it's been a month since I posted last! I took my last finals just before Thanksgiving, so it was a rough November with finishing up my final papers, classes, clinicals, and exams! My running slacked off a bit since I was so busy with everything, but I've picked it back up so I'm happy about that. No more finals, and all I have left for nursing school is role transition, where I've been assigned to a nurse on a medical floor. It wasn't my first choice, but I should be able to see a lot and learn a lot. I'm a quiet person, and my preceptor is supposed to push me to be more assertive, call the docs, etc, so that will be good for me.

Thanksgiving was good! My boyfriend came in for the weekend, so it was fun to see him since it had been awhile. We ran the local Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. The weather was actually rather nice (about 35 degrees, little wind, no snow!), which is a far cry from what it has been in the past. We ran the five mile option, and of course I checked out past results to see what the competition might be like. I figured I could probably place in my age group, maybe overall, but neither of us had been running much so we didn't want to push it. However, that went out the window pretty quickly! Our miles were as follows:

1: 7:27
2: 7:16
3: 7:20
4: 7:28
5: 6:43

The last mile actually showed up on my garmin as being 0.96...oops! Overall pace was 7:19...pretty good for so little running! We hung around after the race to wait for awards since we figured I was in the running (haha!) for an award. However, they announced that something got messed up with the computer software for the chip timing, so they didn't have results! The website says they've been trying to get them back, but haven't had any luck so far. It doesn't really matter that much, but I rarely race, and it would have been fun to get a medal!

We got our first snow of the season yesterday, and I headed out for a run today. The roads were pretty clear, but there was some slush. I'm trying to adjust to the cold...no luck so far, although it's not as bad as I think it will be. Four miles today in 31:35, average pace of 7:51. Still checking out spring marathons...not sure which to do yet!

No more classes means no more studying, so I'm going to relax and enjoy it! Awesome.
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